Accurate Perceptions on Race Relations and Gender Roles “Gone with the Wind”

I chose to write a movie review, as a critic pointing out the inaccurate depictions made through characters in the movie, ‘Gone With The Wind”. What motivated me to do this, is that it is difficult to criticize movies as successful as this. So, I wrote this as a critic pointing out some huge flaws in the portrayals made through the movie’s characters, rather than focus on the story plot, like other movie reviews. The audience I target for this critique, is any “GWTW” fan that thinks this movie is flawless. This written task is intended to focus on part 1 of the course, as language in this movie is used in different contexts to portray race relations and gender roles in a certain society at the time the movie was set.

The tone used in the very title of the article is humorous and a bit exaggerated, as I make a pun by using the name of the movie in making a point about how this movie abolishes accurate perceptions on the nature of the confederate states. The first half of the introduction is stated in an admiring tone, as I praise the movie’s success with sentences like; “ leaving viewers with a warm feeling towards a great story that was beautifully told.” I then shift to a rather aggressive tone, as I directly point out the issues in the movie. As for the rest of the article, the tone is strictly formal and informative, as I elaborate on the introduction. I made sure to stick with the movie review format, by stating my name, movie name, names of the directors, and the genre. Another thing is that I stated the names of characters, and the actors that play them, as well as maintain formal language throughout.

Gone with the wind; a true success story, and what promises to be a Hollywood classic. A depiction of an indeed significant event in American history that focuses on a southern girl’s romantic life, leaving viewers with a warm feeling towards a great story that was beautifully told. An almost four hour screenplay interpretation of a novel that’s over 1000 pages, told in detail that matches every word in the book. In other words, the intriguing plot of the movie is undoubtedly succeeding in Hollywood. However, the controversial portrayal of some of the characters in the story are rather striking, and given the rapidly growing audience of the movie, shape inaccurate perceptions about gender roles, and race relations at the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

An issue clearly evident in this movie, is male attractiveness according to their wealth and social status. Throughout the whole movie, Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable has several attempts in wooing Scarlett O'Hara, played by Vivien Leigh. All attempts fail and end negatively, except two. The first was successfully bidding $150 to dance with Scarlet. Up to that point, Scarlet had showed nothing but reluctance towards Mr. Butler. However, when he bids money for her, she suddenly expresses interest and excitement towards the character she rejected more than once. What makes money in this scene seem even more effective with women, is the fact that to everyone else in the scene, Scarlet was in a “mourning period’, over her husband’s death in the war. Therefore a woman changing her mind ever so quickly about a man, and heavily damaging her social image by dancing with a stranger during her mourning period, expresses the huge power that money had over women at the time. This same issue occurs again when Scarlet desperately makes a dress out of a curtain, to look pretty when asking Mr. butler for money at the jail he was imprisoned in. This scenario again showed how a woman went out of her way for a man’s money.

A second example is the positive reinforcement of male abusive and somewhat violent behaviors towards women. This is apparent the infamous scene in which Rhet Butler threatens Scarlet with violence, forcefully carries her to bed, and basically rapes her. Although Scarlett does fight back a bit in this segment, ultimately Rhett wins out, taking her against her will. What I find the most disturbing, though, is that toward the end of the clip you can see Scarlett the next morning with a smile on her face thinking back on how she actually enjoyed the experience. To me, this tells the audience it is alright to treat women this way because they secretly want it. Meanwhile, Rhett comes to apologize to Scarlett for his behavior, like somehow that will make it all okay. It does.

The second controversial aspect in the blockbuster, is its depiction of race relations. The film shows slaves as well-treated, blindly cheerful “blacks, whom are loyal to their white masters. Slaves are portrayed as normal employees, are rewarded with presents like the master’s pocket watch if they’ve been appropriately loyal, and are allowed to scold the young mistress of the house as if they were a part of the family. Big Sam leaves Tara only when ordered and with extreme reluctance and later saves Scarlett at serious risk to his own life. Although they were rarely acknowledged and there was no talk of pay in the entire movie, the former slaves show no interest in leaving Scarlett. The slaves who choose to seek their freedom are looked down on, either portrayed as shameless or gullible. Gone With the Wind’s directors then show clear refusal to acknowledge any of the complex racial issues of either the Reconstruction Era or the 1930s.
More offensive than Gone With the Wind’s simplistic view of slavery, however, is the film’s depiction of all African Americans as stupid and childlike. Mammy is maintained as a fairly dignified character throughout, but Pork, the only named male house slave, is forced to appear in scene after scene with a wide-eyed, slightly glazed expression on his face. When faced with work duties beyond those he is used to doing, he immediately becomes overwhelmed and panics. Another thing, is that Big Sam’s grammar is wired down to an extremely simplistic level. The worst example of this negative portrayal is the young house slave Prissy. Perhaps intended as comic relief, Prissy is stupid, squeamish, a liar, and becomes hysterical over the smallest things. She is a character that supports the racist claim that African Americans needed to be slaves because they weren’t able to function on their own.

There is no point denying that at this viewing rate, this movie will have a huge role in educating those who watch it about the nature of the confederate states during the civil war, in more than one aspect. As this is a largely significant period in U.S history, it is never a good thing to mislead people about it. It takes one stubborn critic to denounce the story plot of this hugely successful movie. It however simply takes someone slightly knowledgeable of his country’s history to confidently state that this movie is an inaccurate, and in some cases offensive depiction.

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Gone With the Wind is the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The novel follows Scarlett O’Hara, a spoiled sixteen year old just before the start of the Civil War through the war and Reconstruction (1861-1870). Major themes throughout the novel are: The importance of land; love of money; survival; wanting what you cannot have; and the change of a culture (Mitchell, 1936).
Scarlett’s life revolved around the parties she would attend at neighboring plantations, flirting with the young men of the county and pursuing her childhood crush, Ashley Wilkes. Scarlett was a spoiled. In 1860 sixteen year old Scarlett O’Hara lived on Tara, her father’s plantation in Georgia. She is self-centered girl who seemed to care little for the feelings of others and who was used to getting everything she wanted. Her father, Gerald was an Irish immigrant who had prospered in his new land. Her mother, Ellen was from an aristocratic French family. Scarlett had two sisters, Suellen and Careen to whom she paid little mind. Mammy was Ellen’s house servant and the girl’s nanny. Mammy was always concerned that the girls be proper ladies like their mother. The O’Hara plantation had many slaves and was prosperous (Mitchell, 1936).
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